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What's so weird about these stories is there is almost zero need for HarperCollins and similar companies to even exist any more in a world of eBooks. The autho

What's so weird about these stories is there is almost zero need for HarperCollins and similar companies to even exist any more in a world of eBooks. The authors can self publish. The artists can be independent freelance contractors who work with the authors. Kids books may be somewhat of an exception with reliance on paper. My child has been on mostly eBooks for a long time though (before the age of 10). In that sphere where eBooks are a thing and you don't need millions of dollars to do your first print run of paper books all these big publishers do is gatekeep and rent-seek and feed off the creatives they abuse. There's no reason for the artists to have to live in NYC today either if the big publishing company isn't chaining them to the city! The artists are probably already sending all their work digitally.

ghaff 4y ago
>you don't need millions of dollars to do your first print run of paper books Publishers are not spending millions of dollars on a massive print run for an unknown author. Printing and distribution is cheap. I can get a quantity 1 PoD of a book priced at cost from Amazon for about $5 shipped. > gatekeep That's not clearly a bad thing. Having a major publisher whether for fiction or technical books probably communicates some level of floor and some level of editorial care. Certainly a lot of readers give authors more props (probably more than they should) be being published than self-published. I've seen this myself. That's not clearly a bad thing